Candidate Oliver disagrees with voter IDs in NM

Last week, Secretary of State Dianna Duran visited Otero County to promote the need for Voter IDs in New Mexico but her opponent Maggie Toulouse Oliver disagrees.

Oliver, 38, is currently the Bernalillo County clerk and the Democrat candidate for Secretary of State in the November general elections.

When Oliver heard Duran was promoting voter IDs she contacted the Daily News on Thursday to share her thoughts on the subject.

"I actually don't see voter IDs as being a central issues to this campaign," Oliver said.

Oliver said Duran has been pushing to implement voter IDs for many years but has not succeeded in implementing it because of the lack of proven voter fraud in the state.

"Voter ID has never had any traction in our state legislature and I think the reason for that is because when you look at the reality of voter fraud in the state of New Mexico to the extent that it exists — people are not trying to impersonate other people at the polls," Oliver said.

Oliver said implementing voter IDs could actually impede the voting process for some eligible voting citizens.

"Research has shown that in places where a strict voter ID law exist that anywhere between 10 or 12 percent of the population does not have the required documentation even though they are eligible citizens," she said. "So, I think what the research shows is that it actually keeps people from voting rather than actually protecting the voting process."

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She said she believes the state should be fostering and encouraging more voter participation.

"It's documented that we have very rare cases of voter fraud," she said. "However, it's also extremely documented that we have a problem with voter participation. So, how do we encourage citizens? How do we get people on the voting rolls? How do we make sure that they know about opportunities to vote? How are we providing those opportunities? Especially in the rural areas where it's harder for people to get to a polling place sometimes? Those issues are not being addressed at all by the current secretary."

Oliver said one way to make the voting process more accessible to people would be to have more voter registration occur at motor vehicle divisions throughout the state.

"I think a perfect example is we have a really big problem with voter registration at the Motor Vehicle Division," she said. "(Duran's) office acknowledged the problem and supported a bill that I and my fellow clerks are working on to create an electronic process at the MVD. However, they failed to ensure that was implemented properly. So we are among the states with the fewest voter registrations coming in from our MVDs compared to other states around the country."

Oliver said another way to generate voting participation in New Mexico would be to create a more modern registration process.

"I would like to see online voter registration state wide," she said. "That isn't coming to fruition."

Oliver said she and Duran share a lot of similar views in regards to ensuring a fair electoral process for the people.

"The secretary and I agree on a lot of things but I think where we differ is really in our vision of leadership for the office and our vision in terms of being proactive," she said.

Oliver said during her seven and a half years as the Bernalillo County clerk she has consistently raised the bar for making voting easier and more accessible while also becoming a national leader in modernizing the electoral process.

"The kinds of things we're doing in Bernalillo County are being recommended as best practices across the nation and I think that our whole election system statewide can look like that," she said. "I think I have a vision for how things can be across the state that I would like to bring to the Secretary of State's office," she said. "I'd like to bring some fresh leadership into the office."